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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Botany Bay

The DY-100 was designed by Matt Jefferies. In sketches it was referred to as an "obsolete tramp space freighter" or an "antique spacefreighter." One sketch also included the numbers 418 on the hull of the ship. Jefferies was pleased with the notion of modular shipping crates that could be automatically loaded and unloaded without requiring Humans to venture into space. In the sketches Jefferies envisioned that three additional cargo containers could be attached to complete the middle section arrangement. In fact, judging from the actual model, it appears that even a second set of containers could be attached behind the first. (The Art of Star Trek) In the original script of TOS: "Space Seed", this class was CZ-100. (Startrek.com) The model used in the post-TOS references was built by Greg Jein.

All of the DY-100 ships were probably not sleeper ships, as the crew of the Enterprise was surprised to discover the Botany Bay to be one. That contradicts a bit with the computer display of VOY: "Drone", where the image of the ship is specifically labeled "DY-100 Sleeper Ship".

Regarding the remastered version of the Botany Bay, according to Michael Okuda, "...the top of the 'conning tower' now has a tiny circular docking port, very similar to those used on the real-life International Space Station. The docking port was added at the suggestion of a former NASA engineer who noted that a spacecraft built in 1996 would probably have included such equipment to dock at the station." (Startrek.com)

The original version of "The Ultimate Computer" featured a DY-100 class Woden as a Federationfreighter. This appearance would indicate some of these ships were adapted into service by the Federation and remained in use at least as far as the 23rd century. Due to the retcon of the remastered version it is impossible to determine if this was the case. Memory Alpha lists the Woden as an Antares-type starship, for the sole reason it was a more recent appearance from the production point-of view.

In Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology it is stated that DY-100 was the first mass-produced spaceship of Earth. This production began in 1996. There were cargo, fuel and passenger containers the ship could carry. In the standard configuration it was used between Earth and Luna. In an uprated mode it was able to take man to Mars. A journey to Mars, when the suspended animation was used, took 937 days. This is inconsistent with what is established in VOY: "One Small Step".

In the Spaceflight Chronology, timeline specifications are given of a SS Copernicus of the DY-100 class. It served from 1995 to 2020. Specification were length 100 meters, weight 2.72 million kilograms, ship's complement 22, and chemical/fission propulsion. Only the overall shape is similar to the Botany Bay. The Copernicus is probably intended to be the prototype of the class. Unlike the Botany Bay, the Copernicus had a built-in engine pack of six chemical boosters for liftoff. There is a discrepancy with the text and graphics as the graphics show only four boosters.